NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



637 



forest on the north and west slopes. 

 Heath is first encountered at about 

 10,000 ft. and the summits are 

 snow-covered. The mountain range is 

 surrounded by semi-desert. This des- 

 ert is found around Santa-Marta, the. 

 east end of the range, and on the south 

 side, at least between the mountains 

 and Rio Cesar. The forest on the north 

 and west slopes are between 25 and 10,000 

 ft., except that it comes down to sea 

 level on the north. Tropical rainforest 

 animals include the tapir, armadillo, 

 guano, and bushmaster. In the savan- 

 nahs are numerous lizards and in the 

 semi-deserts lizards and tortoises. Fine 

 mangrove swamps and bays near the 

 sea shore. The nearest important city 

 is Santa Marta, Colombia, which is 

 reached by the United Fruit Company 

 steamer from New York, and part of 

 the distance from Santa Marta into the 

 region proper may be covered on the 

 United Fruit Company's railroad. It is 

 necessary to outfit in United States. 

 The only item which may well be omit- 

 ted from the outfit is tents, as travelers 

 can live in the native huts. — A. G. 

 Ruthven and A. S. Pearse. 



2. VENEZUELA! 



By H. Pittier and H. B. Baker 



i. general conditions 

 1. Topography 



Venezuela extends in one direction 

 between the Caribbean Sea to the north 

 and Brazil to the south; in the other 

 direction it is bounded by British Guiana 

 on the east and Colombia on the west. 

 It has an area of 1,043,900 km. (403,007 

 Sq. mi.). 



The easternmost ramifications of the 

 Andean orographic sj'stem enter Vene- 

 zuelan territory on the western side, 

 running to the northeast. This is 

 generally known as the Andes of Vene- 

 zuela (Sierra de Alerida), and reaches 

 an elevation of 5002 meters at Columna 



1 Where there was no cooperation between the 

 authors, authorship of the various sections is indi- 

 cated in the text. The materials were arranged by 

 the committee. 



Peak in the state of Merida; it sends 

 spurs and branches to the north, on 

 both sides of Lake Maracaibo. The 

 Coast Range or Caribbean System, 

 which runs along the seacoast from the 

 Aroa Mountains to the peninsula of 

 Paria, consists of several detached 

 groups, mainly formed by parallel 

 ridges running east and west, and cul- 

 minating at the Pico de Naiguatd, 

 which is 2765 meters in height. 



To the east, the almost unexplored 

 Guiana Mountains divide their intricate 

 system between Venezuela and British 

 Guiana. In like manner, they seem to 

 consist of several parallel chains, run- 

 ning also in an east and west direction, 

 and sending offshoots to the north and 

 south. Their maximum height has not 

 been determined, but seems to be 

 reached in the Maravaca Mountains, 

 between the Caura and Ventuari Rivers. 

 Dr. Jahn supposes it to be of more than 

 3100 meters. The Sierra Pacaraima, the 

 southernmost member of the system, 

 forms the boundary with Brazil, while 

 the celebrated Roraima (2G40 meters) 

 rises on the ridge which separates 

 Venezuela fi'om British Guiana. The 

 western section, bordering on Brazil 

 and Colombia, seems to be covered by 

 rather low hills and mountains, in the 

 middle of which lie valleys drained by 

 the Orinoco and Amazon. 



Between the mountains of Guiana 

 and their western extensions on one 

 side, and the Andean and Caribbean 

 systems on the other side, lies the vast 

 Orinoco basin, occupied largely by the 

 so-called llanos. The rivers of this 

 basin drain nearly four-fifths of the 

 whole territory of Venezuela. Com- 

 paratively, the plains around Lake 

 Maracaibo, the valleys hidden between 

 the several chains of the Coast Range, 

 and those of the vipper reaches of the 

 Rio Negro, occupy but a small area. 



2. Climate 



a. Temperature. Owing to its varied 

 topography, Venezuela, in its several 

 regions, enjoys the whole scale of tem- 

 perature between the averages of 26° 



